Name's Jason Thibeault. I'm an IT guy, skeptic, feminist, gamer and atheist, and love OSS, science of all stripes (especially space-related stuff), and debating on-line and off. I enjoy a good bit of whargarbl now and again, and will occasionally even seek it out. I am also apparently responsible for the death of common sense on the internet. My bad.

EVENTS

Michio Kaku on the Japanese nuclear plant situation

In the wake of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit yesterday off the coast of Japan, causing a giant tsunami, three nuclear plants are now compromised. They may not cause radiation leaks, depending on the engineering of the plants, but there’s a possibility. Dr. Michio Kaku discusses the worst-case scenarios. They’re not Chernobyl, because Chernobyl was an ill-maintained reactor that was practically sabotaged by mismanagement. But there are real potential dangers with this properly-maintained, better-technology plant.

I’m worried for Japan’s populace. If these plants do go critical, they could make wide swathes of the very tiny nation uninhabitable. Frankly, putting nuclear plants anywhere prone to tsunamis, earthquakes, or volcanoes, is simply begging for an unexpected disaster to come along and do damage, but Japan is a very modernized nation, and they deemed the risks outweighed the potential costs. 5 million homes are without power presently, so I hope they’re reassessing their risks. Maybe this will encourage a new green era in Japan. One can hope.